Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

You're a special kind of non-critical thinker.

TheMillenniumRider said

I applaud the people who stormed the capital

Well, there's really no walking back from that one.

Rip Ride Rocket > Storming the Capital.

He’s the Timber Rider of political/social talk. Plenty of hyperbole and WTF moments.

I’ll engage, I guess.

TheMillenniumRider said:

…but because they had the balls to do something about it. [emphasis mine]

I’m really curious what you think the it is that the loving, peaceful rioters were doing something about. One thing I can say for certain is that it was not the disproportionate attention our government has paid to COVID at the expense of climate change. I’m sure they held some vague notions about greedy, worthless politicians, lobbyists, etc. etc. Same as most people. But don’t kid yourself: they did what they did because they thought the 2020 election had been stolen and that Trump had been cheated out of a second term. Now, if that were actually true then that would certainly be something worth protesting over. Aggressively protesting, I’ll say. The problem is that it isn’t true: it is a lie that Trump had planted the seeds for months in advance of the election. So instead, the rioters come off looking like gullible, foolish criminals that’d been had by a con man. They are not to be applauded, and the only correct thing you said is that it does sound horrible to suggest they should be.

Per NYU clinical assistant professor of medicine and infectious disease:

At the beginning of the pandemic, the CDC said that a close contact was somebody that you’re indoors with unmasked for 15 minutes or more. The equivalent of that with the Delta variant is not 15 minutes, it’s one second.

https://www.statnews.com/2021/07/23/how-concerned-should-we-be-abou...weighs-in/

Australia is sending unarmed military members into Sydney to enforce Covid lockdowns.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-58021718

Bakeman31092 said:

I’ll engage, I guess.

TheMillenniumRider said:

…but because they had the balls to do something about it. [emphasis mine]

I’m really curious what you think the it is that the loving, peaceful rioters were doing something about.

So, again, not saying I agree with their beliefs, but they truly believed the election was stolen, so they got up and did something about it. Our future is being gutted and stolen each day, yet we all just go along with it, being good little consumers and feeding into the bigger system. We all agree at some level that pandemic response has been lackluster, that climate change response has been lackluster, that Congress serves corporations and the 1%. But no one is doing anything? Myself included, because one person can’t do anything, we need to actually stand up, figure out want we want, and start holding people accountable. Many people truly believe voting in different people will change things, but we are 8 months from the last election and what exactly has changed? Some policies? That’s all well and good I guess, it’s something to look good on paper and placate the public. But those policy changes don’t meaningfully affect us at a more granular level.

It’s similar to the us vs them that typically occurs in organizations. The hourly and low level management are dealing with the bulk of the issues, and the top management are running the show, often blissfully unaware of the real problems faced each day, or they are aware and simply do not care because they are taken care of.

TheMillenniumRider said:

So, again, not saying I agree with their beliefs, but they truly believed the election was stolen, so they got up and did something about it.

That speaks more to their stupidity than their courage. As mentioned above Trump is a straight up con man. He's bilked millions of dollars from his followers under the guise of using that money to help fund ballot recounts. He hasn't spent a dime on that. I'm convinced the My Pillow guy is playing a similar game.

It’s an interesting point you make about beliefs. I agree in principle that if you grant someone their beliefs then their resulting actions can seem rationale. The problem is that beliefs are often treated as sacred and not subject to questioning or criticism. The word itself almost has this mystical quality, which I think comes from its association with religion.

To me, beliefs are simply what one thinks is true about the world, nothing more. When a belief is informed by a person’s subjective experience then it falls more into the realm of personal truths. But if you’re talking about a fact of nature, or an event that happened, then a belief is either true or false. And if someone holds a demonstrably false belief then their resulting actions shouldn’t be excused simply because they are sincere in their beliefs.

If you believe in BS (the 2020 election was stolen) then storming the capitol is also BS. So no, I don’t applaud people that are animated to take extreme action by a false belief.

Just curious if you also applaud Osama Bin Laden. After all, that guy had his beliefs and had the balls to do something about it.

Partisanship Isn’t The Only Reason Why So Many Americans Remain Unvaccinated

It's an easy narrative, but it's far from the only thing happening here.

TheMillenniumRider said:

Many people truly believe voting in different people will change things, but we are 8 months from the last election and what exactly has changed?

It's only been 6 months since the new session of Congress started. Expecting fundamental change in 6 months is setting yourself up for disappointment.

Agreed Gonch. The idea that it is a factor at all is what's troubling, but I guess it's inevitable.

Somewhat to my surprise, U. Michigan today announced that, as of 8/30 (the first day of classes), all students, staff, and faculty must provide evidence of (at least partial) vaccination, with limited medical/religious exemptions.

Weekly COVID-19 testing and continued masking indoors will be required of these individuals as they work to become compliant. Ultimately, non-compliant students, faculty and staff will be subject to appropriate campus disciplinary procedures.

(Emphasis mine.)

As for how far away we are from that:

As of July 30, roughly 81 percent of students and 65 percent of employees on the Ann Arbor campus, and 76 percent of Michigan Medicine employees already have reported their COVID-19 vaccinations. The vaccination rates are lower for some categories of employees including temporary employees and for employees on the Dearborn and Flint campuses.

The students were higher at least in part because the undergrads were already presented with "vaccinate or test weekly, you pick," and I suspect that was a pretty substantial deterrent. Students living on campus were also already required to be vaccinated.

Full announcement: https://record.umich.edu/articles/u-m-will-require-covid-19-vaccina...-campuses/

Better late than never but it is late. The earliest someone can be fully vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine is a week or two into the term, even if they got their first dose today.

Following the lead of Ohio State, no doubt.

;)

As of Tuesday, Ohio State is asking everyone to report their vaccine status and will test unvaccinated students weekly.

https://news.osu.edu/ohio-state-updates-autumn-semester-reactivation-plans/

Its interesting to see some entities make definite announcements to the effect of "We will not require masks or vaccines." Seems to me its best to say what your current plans are and you will continually monitor and assess for any appropriate changes going forward.

OhioStater said:

Following the lead of Ohio State, no doubt.

In this case, happy to do it.

Hey Gonch, the article you posted has some errors regarding the demographics of vaccinated people. Here is the link to the CDC information:

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-demographic

I'm not a fan of punishing the unvaccinated as this would seriously affect minorities.

I'm curious if the theme park industry will still have the crowded fall events they are actively preparing for, or if this will be enough to keep people home

GoBucks89 said:

Seems to me its best to say what your current plans are and you will continually monitor and assess for any appropriate changes going forward.

Yes. My own little college has still not made a public announcement to all faculty, staff, and students about what the official "stance" is, and classes start in 24 days.New signage has started to appear on doors stating that if you are vaccinated masks are no longer required indoors, but there has not been a whisper of what's actually happening, if the current Delta surge is impacting any decisions being made, etc.

Just. Say. Something.

Broadway collectively declared today that 12 and up must be vaccinated to attend a show. Under, that must have a negative rest result. I'm all for this.